Sparkling drinks are manufactured by dissolving carbon dioxide in liquid, typically by pressurizing the liquid with carbon dioxide. When pressure of the sparkling drink is low, bubbles of carbon dioxide may be formed and come out of the solution.
Carbon dioxide is typically provided as pressurized gas in pressurized tanks or cartridges. For example, Carbonated water may be made by rechargeable soda siphon, or a disposable carbon dioxide cartridge. The soda siphon may be filled with chilled water and carbon dioxide may be added under pressure. Sparkling drinks produced this way tend to be only slightly gassy.
Alternatively, carbonators or carbonation machines may be used. Carbonators range from home scale machines such as Sodastream™ to large scale carbonators. Carbonators pump water into a pressurized chamber where it is combined with CO2 from pressurized tanks. The pressurized, carbonated water may be mixed with flavorings, typically in the form of syrups.
However, pressurized CO2 tanks are expensive to manufacture and require careful handling. Transportation of the pressurized CO2 tanks is complicated due to their high weight and high pressure. Also, it is not allowed to send pressurized CO2 tanks by air in plains. In addition, refill of a pressurized CO2 tank requires that the tank will be taken to a service site, which is a burden.
CO2 may also be provided by chemical reaction of, for example, sodium bicarbonate and citric acid. However, this method is impractical since the chemical reaction results in other materials such as salts that may influence and degrade the taste of the drink. Separating the liquid from the salt is complicated and renders this approach impractical.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,084 to Plester discloses a portable carbonator which includes a built-in CO2 supply system operated on disposable gas generating cartridges. CO2 is generated by a chemical reaction between reagents which carbonates and/or propels the water. The system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,084 is meant to maintain a constant gaseous pressure whenever carbonated water is drawn. The carbonator disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,084 is very complicated, involves a lot of mechanical elements, stationary and movable (dynamic), as depicted for example in FIG. 4.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,587 to Plester discloses a CO2 gas generator which chemically generates the gas from a chemical reaction between two reagents contained within a common container. The generator aims to automatically provide gas so as to maintain the gas headspace pressure in constant reference to a reference pressure. While claiming to provide a device that is easy to use by non-professional users based on disposable gas generator units, in practice the device according to this patent, as may be seen for example in FIGS. 3A-3L, involves highly complicated mechanical elements including containers within containers, mechanical valves made to control the disposing of the gas and the releasing of the reagents, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,636,337 to Gupta discloses device and method for dispensing gas CO2 to carbonate water. The device and method employ gas generator using two chemically active reagents in the presence of water. The device teaches a bleed to maintain the pressure in the headspace at sufficiently high levels while allowing continuous flow of CO2 through the carbonated liquid.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,192,513 to Stumphauzer discloses device and method for rapid carbonation of water using chemical reaction taking place in one pressure vessel, transferring the CO2 to a second pressure vessel. One object of the disclosed device and method is to provide a simple, inexpensive and efficient process for rapidly generating CO2 and carbonating water. However the apparatus, as disclosed for example in FIG. 1, is very complicated and includes a large number of parts, which drives it away from being simple.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,021,219 to Rudick discloses device and method for self regulating CO2 gas generator for carbonating liquids. The gas generator consists of two liquid chambers for containing to liquid reagents that when chemically adjoined react and produce the gas. Here also the devices disclosed are complicated, include large number of parts and do not operate with disposable reagent packages.
GB Patent No. 323102 to Blaxter discloses carbonating apparatus pumping carbonated water together with carbon dioxide to a carbonating vessel which is also supplied with de-aerated water pumped into that vessel and to a mixing pump that provide the water and the carbon dioxide to a carbonating vessel.
International Patent Application Publication No. WO 94/10860 to Stumphauzer discloses device and method for rapid carbonation of liquids. The device consists of two vessels connected together in which gas is produced using carbon dioxide compound and water that when chemically reacting with the compound produces gas. The device is very bulky and involves large number of parts (valves, seals, springs, conduits and the like).
International Patent Application Publication No. WO 2011/094677 to Novak discloses system, method and cartridge for carbonating liquid. Carbon dioxide may be provided in a cartridge used to generate CO2 gas to be dissolved into the liquid.
US Patent Publication No. 2011/226343 to Novak et al. discloses system method and cartridge for carbonating a precursor liquid to form a beverage. The system and method disclosed by Novak et al. requires charging Zeolite with carbon dioxide by exposing the zeolite to a temperature of 550° C. for a period of 5 hours in a furnace and then immediately transferring the zeolite beads to a sealed metal container, flooding the container with carbon dioxide and pressurizing the container to 5-32 psig for 1 hour. During this process the zeolite beads are charged with carbon dioxide which may be released when exposed to water or other fluids as well as water vapor and humidity. Accordingly, the charged zeolite must be packed in a humidity free facility and in a humidity resistant packaging. It may be appreciated that the above charging process makes the preparation of a cartridge for the preparation of a carbonated beverage relatively expensive. Another disadvantage of the above system and method is the charged zeolite is highly sensitive to humidity and any interaction with humidity or fluids activates the release of carbon dioxide from the cartridge. Thus, the shelf life of such cartridges is limited and requires handling with care to avoid mechanical damage to the sealed packaging of the zeolite in the cartridge.